Method of forging axles



' (No Model.)

' P. HORN. METHOD OF rename AXLES.

No 503,481. Patented Aug. 15, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

FERDINAND HORN, OF COSI'IOOTON, OHIO.

METHOD OF FORGING AXLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,481, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed December 20, 1392. $erial No. 455,773. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FERDINAND HORN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Coshocton, in the county of Goshocton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Method of Forging Axles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing axles; the objects in view being to produce a forged axle capable of use in connection with the lightest of vehicles and the heaviest of draft-wagons; and to so construct the same as to be comparatively light, and yet at the same time to increase its strength, and to form the same by a new, improved, and simplified method.

Referring to the drawingsz Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of an axle constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view. Figs. 3 and 4 are views of a hammer illustrating the manner of forming the axle. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the blank after the first step of the process in its manufacture.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In practicing my method I take an axle blank 1, which is square in cross-section,and place the angle of the same in a right-angular groove 2, formed in the anvil 8, of a forgehammer 4E, and submit the said blank to the action of the hammer. The hammer reduces the blank until it takes the shape shownin Fig. 5-that is its upper angular side is flattened while the metal is spread at each side of its lower angle, producing a longitudinally-disposed rib 5 and opposite flanges 6. This is the first step of the operation. Vhen this has been accomplished, the blank is given a quarter turn so as to bring its flanges 6 against the die and in the path of the hammer, and the action of the hammer serves to reduce the flanges squaring them, as shown in cross-section in Fig. 2. By placing the axle alternately in the groove 2 of the die and submitting it to a hammer, and removing the same, and placing it edgewise upon the die the forging is completed, and an axle, provided upon its upper side with a longitudinal strengthening rib 5, is produced. It will be seen that the axle is oblong in cross-section when it has been completed-that is to say, that its horizontal width is greater than its vertical width, and upon its upper side is formed the strengthening rib. This rib may be either angular, as I have shown it, or it may be rounded, or given any other desired shape in cross-section, the shape having no particular function.

If desired the axle-bed 7 may have its under side correspondingly grooved, as at 8, to fit over the aforesaid rib, and by such construction it is prevented from anylateralmovement upon the axle. This bed may or may not be used as preferred.

From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be seen that I have provided a new and improved simple method of producing axles.

Having described my invention, what I claim is The herein described method of forging axles from blanks, rectangular in cross-section, the same consisting in placing the blank with its corner in a V-shaped groove and swaging out one angle of the blank, and subsequently squaring the edges thereof, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FERDINAND HORN.

lVitnesses:

J. M. COMPTON, W. H. RoBINsoN. 

